By Colin Young, News Staff
Northeastern University officials announced this morning the opening of a new regional campus in Charlotte, N.C., following formal approval from the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, the state’s higher education licensing authority, and part of a long-term plan to develop a system of other campuses across the country.
The university plans to open a second regional campus next year in Seattle and is in the process of examining several other potential sites.
The Charlotte campus is the next step in Northeastern’s plan to grow beyond Boston as President Joseph E. Aoun foresees a drastic shift in the American system of higher education.
“The American system of higher education is going to change dramatically in the 21st century. Our existing college campuses are based on a model that we imported from England in the 17th century,” Aoun said in a news release issued today. “This model cannot meet the full demands of contemporary society. We need to develop truly modern campuses – regional platforms for graduate education and collaborations between higher education and industry.”
The regional campuses will offer graduate-level degrees only and officials said the programs will be tailored to meet the needs of each local economy. In Charlotte, “the university will offer a master’s degree in health informatics, which aligns with the growing heath-care sector in the region,” according to today’s release.
All regional programs will be based on what the university calls “a hybrid delivery model,” or a combination of classroom and online learning. Current Northeastern faculty will teach courses both at the satellite campuses and online.
In an effort to strengthen research opportunities, the university plans to create partnerships with groups in each region.
“The university is actively discussing a research collaboration with Duke Energy and Center City Partners, a Charlotte-based civic organization,” according to the release. “The collaboration will focus on the impact of sustainability efforts within the local labor market.”
The Charlotte campus, set in the city’s uptown financial district, will be the university’s first expansion outside Massachusetts. Charlotte was selected out of a national search because of the city’s economic growth and educational opportunity, Senior Vice President for External Affairs Mike Armini told The News in August.
“Charlotte is a great opportunity for us because there is a high percentage of people with bachelor’s degrees, but not a high percentage of people with master’s degrees,” he said.
To bolster its presence in the city, Northeastern hired Cheryl Richards as regional dean and executive for the new campus this summer. Richards was previously campus and academic dean at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte.
Although the regional campuses will not offer undergraduate degrees or a co-op program, the university said both will benefit from the new programs.
“The regional campuses will deepen relationships with current co-op employers and help to develop relationships with new employers,” the release read. “The sites will also serve as a local resource for undergraduates on co-op placements in a selected region.”
The expansion beyond the Boston area represents a shift away from what Aoun called “place-based” learning in a May 8 article he wrote for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
“Today a college or university increasingly is not just one place, but many places — a main campus, a satellite branch in a different city or state, an international outpost and a virtual-learning environment,” Aoun wrote. “This major evolution is likely to proceed further as the demographic changes and competitive pressures facing our sector continue to intensify.”
In the article, Aoun said a university is no longer bound just by a physical campus and must diversify the ways it delivers its services.
“Now the rapid march of technology, customers with new needs and global opportunities are driving the evolution of the new delivery system that we see today in higher education,” he said.
